Who is Lady Susan Hussey? Prince William's godmother quits royal role over racist comments

Prince William's godmother has resigned over racist comments to a Black charity boss during a reception at Buckingham Palace. But who is Lady Susan Hussey?

Lady Susan, 83, was a close friend and companion to Queen Elizabeth II who was retained by King Charles as a member of the royal household following her death. She is also Prince William's godmother.

Ngozi Fulani, the CEO of domestic violence charity Sistah Space, revealed on Wednesday she had been asked seven times where she was from, despite answering that she is British.

Buckingham Palace have said they "take this incident extremely seriously" and that the comments were "unacceptable".

Prince William's spokesperson described the comments as "unacceptable" and said it was right the individual had "stepped aside".

Who is Lady Susan Hussey?

Lady Susan became one of Queen Elizabeth II's ladies-in-waiting in 1960 after Prince Andrew was born. Initially her job as 'women of the bedchamber' was to take care of the Queen's correspondence.

Over many decades Lady Susan became a core part of the late Queen's inner circle, so much so that she was one of only 30 attendees at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in 2021.

As social distancing restrictions were in place at that time, her presence highlighted the central role she played to the Queen and the Royal Family.

Lady Susan was most regularly seen in the background of royal events. As a close confidante and friend to the Queen, she was known as 'number one head girl'.

Lady Susan's father was the 12th Earl of Waldegrave and she is the Baroness of North Bradley.

She married journalist Marmaduke Hussey in 1959 and had two children, son James and daughter Katherine. Her husband had senior roles at Associated Newspapers and Times Newspapers before becoming Chairman of the BBC in 1986. He died in 2006.

Katherine has recently been made one of the Queen Consort's 'companions' — reportedly a more modern and "informal" version of the lady-in-waiting role.

Lady-in-waiting is an unpaid position that is undertaken out of loyalty by women from the aristocracy or who are close with the monarch: either through family associations or individually.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth, King Charles made Lady Susan a King's Lady of the Household.

This was not the only honour that she received for her decades of service to the Royal Family.

Lady Susan was awarded the Dame Grand Cross of the Victorian Order in 2013.

The honour is the highest that can be given out by the monarch. Other recipients include the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex.

Lady Susan was also made one of Prince William's six godparents in 1982, alongside King Constantine of Greece amongst others.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Lady Susan is said to have formed part of what has become known as the “HMS Bubble” – a group of 22 staff members who were designated to stay at Windsor Castle with the Queen during the lockdown.

While under restrictions, those specially chosen to be part of the bubble worked on a three-week shift basis.

Master of the Household Tony Johnstone-Burt, a former naval officer, came up with the HMS Bubble moniker, as the schedule of extended time away from home and family had "parallels with being at sea away from home [...] and having to deal with a sense of dislocation, anxiety and uncertainty".